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Matt Bloom
Matthew Jason "Matt" Bloom (November 14, 1972), better known by his ring name Matt Bloom and Jason Albert, a American professional wrestling trainer, color commentator and retired professional wrestler and National Football League player who employed by the professional wrestling promotion WWE, where he is the head trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Between 1997 and 2004, Bloom wrestled for World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment under the ring names Prince Albert, Albert, and A-Train. During his time in the promotion he became a one-time WWF Intercontinental Champion. Professional wrestling career Jason Albert (as just Albert) debuted on WWF television on the April 11, 1999 episode of Sunday Night Heat, saving Droz from a beating at the hands of Big Bossman. "Prince Albert", then formed a short-lived trio called "The Pierced Pals" with Droz and Key. He acquired the persona of Droz's personal tattooist. Droz and Albert continued to team together until Droz was paralyzed in October 1999, at which point Albert became the protege of the Big Bossman. The duo separated following the debut of Bull Buchanan, who formed a tag team with the Big Bossman. In March 2000, Albert was recruited by Trish Stratus to form a tag team with Test. The tag team, known as T & A, competed in the tag team division throughout 2000, feuding with rival tag teams such as the Dudley Boyz and the Acolytes Protection Agency. In December 2000, the team separated after Albert attacked Test under the orders of Stephanie McMahon Helmsley. In April 2001, Albert formed a stable known as X-Factor with Justin Credible and X-Pac. On June 28, 2001 in New York City, New York, Albert defeated Kane (with help from Diamond Dallas Page) to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. He lost the WWF Intercontinental Championship to Alliance member Lance Storm on July 23, 2001 in Buffalo, new York after several interferences. In July 2001, Credible left X-Factor and joined The Alliance. Albert and X-Pac continued to team until November 2001, when X-Pac was injured. In late 2001, Albert adopted the nickname "The Hip Hop Hippo" and began teaming with Scotty 2 Hotty. Upon the introduction of the Brand Extension, both Bloom and Hotty were assigned to the SmackDown! brand. The tag team disbanded on April 4, 2002 when Albert attacked Scotty after the duo failed to defeat Billy and Chuck for the World Tag Team Championships. Subsequently, he was not featured in any high profile feuds until December 2002, when he joined forces with Paul Heyman and The Big Show, and was renamed A-Train after Heyman's suggestion. A-Train and Big Show lost to The Undertaker at WrestleMania XIX. A-Train feuded with The Undertaker, whom he wrestled at SummerSlam, and Chris Benoit, whom he wrestled at No Mercy 2003. At Survivor Series, he wrestled alongside Lesnar in a ten man Survivor Series match. He competed in the 2004 Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by the eventual winner, Chris Benoit. When Benoit decided to compete against Triple H for the World Championship on the Raw brand, General Manager Paul Heyman held a SmackDown! style Royal Rumble where the winner would meet Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at No Way Out. He was eliminated by Eddie Guerrero, who went on to win the match. The alliance with Lesnar ended in March 2004 when Bloom was drafted to the Raw brand. A-Train debuted on Raw on June 7. On June 21, he suffered a torn rotator cuff. Before returning from injury, he was released from his WWE contract on November 1, 2004. On the March 19 episode of Raw, he appeared in a video promo under the new ring name Lord Tensai. On the March 26 episode of Raw, another video of Tensai aired. WWE's official website revealed the translation of one of the sentences to say "Lord Tensai will strike." and another "Lord Tensai approaches. Beware!" On the April 2, 2012 episode of Raw, Lord Tensai debuted as a heel and defeated Alex Riley as a result of the referee stopping the match. WWE's website later acknowledged that he had previously appeared as A-Train before leaving to compete in Japan where he embraced the Japanese culture. On the next week's episode of Raw, Tensai defeated Yoshi Tatsu in a similar fashion. During the match, the crowd could be heard chanting "Albert", though the announcers made no reference to his Albert persona specifically; this trend continues. On the following episode of Raw, Tensai was revealed by John Laurinaitis as John Cena's mystery opponent for an Extreme Rules match. Tensai defeated Cena in this match after interference from David Otunga followed by a green mist attack. The next week, he followed up on his victory by defeating R-Truth. On the May 7 episode of Raw, Tensai defeated WWE Champion CM Punk in a handicap match, teaming with Punk's Over the Limit opponent Daniel Bryan. On the May 21 episode of Raw, the "Lord" portion of his ring name, as well as the extravagant garments and skull helmet worn during his entrance (for that episode only), were dropped and he was billed simply as Tensai. On the June 4 episode of Raw, Tensai's winning streak came to an end after he was defeated by John Cena. The following week, he suffered a second loss to World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, resulting in frustration and attacking his manager Sakamoto. On the June 29 edition of SmackDown, Tensai defeated Justin Gabriel to qualify for a spot in the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank ladder match. He then went on to lose the match. Following this, Tensai would go on a three month losing streak against the likes of Tyson Kidd, Sheamus, Sin Cara, Randy Orton, and Ryback. Tensai finally ended his losing streak on the October 5 episode of SmackDown, defeating Big Show via disqualification after interference from Sheamus. His lower card status continued, with Sakamoto dropped, as he became restricted to appearances mostly on WWE Superstars. On November 18 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Tensai captained the traditional five-on-five elimination tag team match opposite Brodus Clay, but was eliminated by Justin Gabriel before his team ultimately lost. On the December 24 Raw Tensai would team up with 3MB and Prime Time Players in a 12-Man tag team match in a losing effort. In December, Tensai was reduced to a comedy act, with Santino Marella calling him "Fat Albert" and proceeding to defeat Tensai. On the January 28, 2013 episode of Raw, Tensai was forced to wear lingerie while participating in a dance-off with Brodus Clay. On the January 30 episode of Main Event, after being mocked for his lingerie dance, Tensai defeated Titus O'Neil in a singles match. Clay came out to support Tensai during the match and Tensai danced with Clay after the match, signalling a face turn. Clay and Tensai formed a tag team and went on to defeat Primo & Epico as well as Heath Slater & Jinder Mahal of 3MB and elimination chamber defeat Team Rhodes Scholars. On the March 22 episode of SmackDown, Tensai and Clay were defeated by Team Rhodes Scholars in a tag team match after an interference from their associates The Bella Twins. Tensai and Clay announced their official tag-team name "Tons of Funk" on the March 27 episode of Main Event, where they accompied The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) to ring in a losing effort to The Bella Twins with Team Rhodes Scholars in their corner when Nikki pinned Naomi after an interference by Cody Rhodes. The two teams were originally booked to face each other in an eight-person mixed tag team match on April 7 at Wrestlemania 29, but their match was cut due to time constraints. The match instead took place the following night on Raw, where Tons of Funk and The Funkadactyls emerged victorious. After nearly a month of in-ring absence, Tons of Funk returned on June 6 episode of Superstars, defeating Primo and Epico. On June 24, Tensai and Clay competed in a triple threat tag team match to determine the number one contenders for the Tag Team Championship against The Usos and 3MB which was represented by Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal. The success of the team has waned, with Tons of Funk losing more often. At TLC, Tensai, along with The Funkadactyls, left Brodus Clay during his Match, hinting a break up. The next night on RAW, Brodus refused to Tag Tensai in a Tag Match against Ryback and Curtis Axel, causing Tensai to lose. After the Match, Brodus attacked Tensai, ending Tons of Funk. After the attack, Tensai changed his name to Jason Albert and began commentating and interviewing on NXT along with Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton. On August 7, 2014, Albert stated he decided to retire from in-ring competition and announced that he would begin working as a trainer in the WWE Performance Center. On March 6, 2015, Albert was reportedly promoted to NXT head trainer following the departure of Bill DeMott. On May 19, Albert was promoted to NXT head coach from his previous interim role. Category:American wrestlers Category:Male professional wrestlers Category:Intercontinental Champions Category:People from Massachusetts